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For all the high-caliber coffee shops that assert an undying devotion to fair-trade beans and espresso machines that cost more than a car, there's surprisingly little talk of another essential ingredient: milk. It's an odd thing to overlook, considering how large a role it plays in coffee culture. As Blue Bottle's James Freeman recently told Grub, "How coffee tastes is directly related to how the milk tastes," but he also noted that milk is one of his biggest expenses. Fortunately, more and more shops around the nation are turning to small-scale, high-quality dairies as well as testing out serious non-dairy milk alternatives: La Colombe recently introduced hemp milk, Joe Coffee just added almond milk, and Intelligentsia plans to unveil new varieties soon. Learn which American coffee shops take milk seriously, straight ahead.

1. The Shop:Blue Bottle (New York, San Francisco, Oakland)The Milk: San Francisco and Oakland: St. Benoît's organic, low-pasteurized, pasture-raised Jersey cow's milk; Clover Stornetta Farms's 3.5-percent-fat milk; New York: Battenkill Valley Creamery's farm-fresh milk.
Freeman's willing to splurge on high-class offerings: On the West Coast, he brings in milk from Jersey-based, single-source farm St. Benoît, as well as Clover out of nearby Petaluma, California. His New York shops all use milk from Battenkill Valley Creamery (based in Salem, New York.). Freeman's toying with the idea of producing his own almond milk, too.

4. The Shop:Victory Garden (New York)The Milk: Housemade mastic- and cardamom-infused goat's milk.
This West Village ice-cream shop actually has excellent coffee: It mixes Irving Farm's house blend with lightly sweetened mastic- and cardamom-infused goat's milk, which owner Sophia Brittan sources from Side Hill Acres in Candor, New York.

5. The Shop: Stumptown (New York, Portland, Seattle, Los Angeles)The Milks: New York: Hudson Valley Fresh; Portland and Seattle: Sunshine Dairy; Los Angeles: Rockview Farms.
Stumptown's purveyors vary across the country — which is a good thing, because it means everything is local. Sunshine Dairy is a Portland-based company that uses a cold-bowl separation process, which means that milk's only heated at the pasteurization stage. Family-owned Rockview Farms, based in Downey, California, is one of the only dairies in California to own its own cows and process, package, and distribute milk. All Stumptown outposts offer both whole and skim varieties, as well as Pacific's Barista Series almond and soy milks.

6. The Shop:Joe Coffee (New York and Philadelphia)The Milk:Guida's Dairy's hormone-, pesticide- and antibiotic-free milk.
Besides Connecticut-based purveyor Guida's, the Rubinsteins also provide the option of Organic Valley milk. They've offered Pacific's Barista Series soy milk for a while, and in the beginning of March, they introduced Pacific's almond milk.

7. The Shop:La Colombe (New York and Philadelphia)The Milks: Organic Valley's ultra-pasteurized, homogenized, pasture-raised milk; Pacific's hemp milk.
All the shops carry Organic Valley milk (whole, skim, and half-and-half): As it turns out, the grocery-store favorite sources from farms all across the country. Up until recently, La Colombe had a strict policy of no non-dairy alternatives, but the owners just introduced a nutty hemp milk.

8. The Shop:Little Collins (New York)The Milk: Battenkill.
Battenkill — which prides itself on getting the milk from the cows into bottles in less than eight hours — is a popular choice in the city: This new-ish Australian-style coffee shop in midtown offers the whole and 2-percent-fat varieties, and Sweetleaf uses it, too.

13. The Shop:Cognoscenti Coffee (Los Angeles and Culver City)The Milks:Califia Farms' almond milk; Strauss's dairy milks.
Cognoscenti's almond milk, which comes from California-based Califia Farms, is made from whole blanched (not roasted) almonds. Last year, Califia struck a deal with Whole Foods, so you can find the almond milk in stores nationwide. For dairy offerings, Straus is again the brand of choice.

14. The Shop:Ritual Coffee (San Francisco)The Milk: Clover Organic Farms' fresh-pasteurized, antibiotic-free milk.
Clover Organic Farms, an offshoot of Clover Stornetta Farms, has won awards for the way it humanely produces dairy products. It's a popular California dairy: Other shops that use it include in Sightglass, Handsome, Verve, and Linea Caffe.

15. The Shop:Houndstooth Coffee (Austin)The Milk:Mill King Milk's low-temperature pasteurized, non-homogenized milk.
Brothers Sean and Paul Henry stay true to their Texan roots by using Mill King Milk, a family-run business in Waco where the cows ("handpicked" Holsteins, Brown Swiss, and Jerseys) are grass-fed as much as possible.

22. The Shop:Counter Culture HQ (Durham)The Milk:Maple View Farm's hormone- and antibiotic-free milk, with added vitamin D.
Counter Culture training centers around the nation all use different milks sourced from local dairies — like Sparkman's Cream Valley's milk in Atlanta and Battenkill in New York. But in Durham, where the company is based, Maple View Farm in Hillsborough, North Carolina is the dairy of choice.

23. The Shop:Old City Java (Knoxville, Tennessee)The Milk:Cruze Dairy Farm's cream-top milk.
The oldest coffee shop in the city serves milk from local purveyor Cruze Dairy Farm (also in Knoxville) with its homemade strawberry-Nutella "Pop-Tarts" and Counter Culture coffee. You can find the milk at farmer's markets around the Knoxville area — and definitely take a look at the charming, retro website.